The United States and Japan will step up their defence cooperation to deal with the threat from nuclear-armed North Korea as tensions in East Asia remain high, officials from the two allies said on Thursday.

PM to states: more roads, less red tape

Prime Minister Tony Abbott will enlist the help of the states to cut red tape and get new road and rail projects moving.

Mr Abbott will join state and territory leaders in Canberra on Friday for the year's first Council of Australian Governments meeting.

On the agenda will be the terms of reference for a new federalism policy, which Mr Abbott promised at the 2013 election.

Combined with the results of the national commission of audit, the white paper will map out how better cooperation between the different levels of government can improve the lives of all Australians and get budgets under control.

Overlap between the functions of local, state and federal governments is wasting billions of dollars a year.

The previous COAG meeting in December agreed on a "one-stop shop" approach to environmental regulation for major economic projects.

The premiers are expected to sign off on the white paper terms of reference on Friday.